Federal Judicial Service:Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of FloridaNominated by Abraham Lincoln on June 14, 1862, to a seat vacated by McQueen McIntosh; Confirmed by the Senate on July 17, 1862, and received commission on July 17, 1862. Service terminated on July 26, 1876, due to death.

He had a law practice in Jacksonville, Florida and who had served as mayor, was an ally of Isaiah and Ossian Bingley Hart. Philip had fled to Montrose after the Unionists evacuated Jacksonville in 1862. When he returned as Federal judge for Northern District of Florida, Franklin Fraser, his brother, came to work briefly as the district's deputy clerk before returning to Pennsylvania.

On March 16, 1863 Lyman D. Stickney, of the Direct Tax Commission and General Rufus Saxton, military governor of Florida asked that Judge Fraser be assigned to active duty in Florida with a marshal and a district attorney to be assigned to active duty in Florida. Lincoln wrote below no Marshal and no District Attorney. Joseph Remington was finally appointed as marshal and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 1864.